Thursday, June 27 : Saint Gregory the Great

“He knoweth both the deceiver and deceived, He bringeth counsellors to a foolish end, and the judges to dulness.” (Job 12:Ver. 16, 17) Whereas every man that strives to deceive his neighbour is wicked, and ‘Truth’ saith to the wicked, I never knew you, depart from Me ye that work iniquity [Matt. 7, 23]; in what sense is it said here, that ‘the Lord knoweth the deceiver?’ But forasmuch as God’s ‘knowing’ sometimes means His taking cognizance, sometimes His approving, He at once knows a wicked man, in that in taking cognizance He judges him, (for He would never judge any wicked man, if He did not take cognizance of him,) and yet He does not know a wicked person, in that He does not approve his doings. And so He both knows him, in that He finds him out, and knows him not, in that He doth not acknowledge him in a likeness to His own Wisdom. As it is said of any truthful man, that he does not know falsehood, not because, when any thing false is said even by others, he is too blind to find fault with it, but this very falsehood he at once knows in the tracing out, and knows not in the affection of the heart, so as not to do that himself, which he condemns the doing of in others.
Roman Catholic Ordinary Calendar – rosary,team